Team Rep Voting

Time to vote for team reps again! If you haven’t seen the spiel on one of the other team blogs about how team reps/voting/terms work, the longer explanation is after the jump. tl;dr version: time to elect reps for the first half of 2013. This past time it was Mark Riley and Scott Reilly, but since then Mark has stepped back from heavy involvement with plugins so you need at least one new rep.

Note: It can’t be folks who are already the team reps for other teams, and it should be folks who want to the responsibility (mostly posting weekly updates on team activity to the weekly updates blog). Since there are some newer members of this group it might be nice for one of them to level up and learn the ropes from Scott? Up to you guys. Anyone interested in being a pluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party team repTeam Rep A Team Rep is a person who represents the Make WordPress team to the rest of the project, make sure issues are raised and addressed as needed, and coordinates cross-team efforts. should leave a comment saying as much so people know who they can/should vote for. Voting is open until December 15, and results will be posted here once voting closes.

Vote for Plugin Team Reps

Team Rep Voting Backstory and Detail

Earlier this year, we took a stab at creating a structure for contributor group communication, based on identifying working groups and letting each group elect team reps. All the teams were represented at the community summit at the end of October, which was a huge step forward in recognizing contributors in areas other than coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress.. That said, once all the reps were together, one of the things we talked about was the idea of team reps, responsibilities, and expectations. As a result, it’s time for a bit of an update there.

Moving forward, each contributor group will have two team reps. We’ll have voting to choose team reps every six months. The idea is that one person will take the lead for the first half of the term with the other person acting as a backup rep, then about halfway through, they’ll swap roles. This way, there’s always someone ramping up with more responsibility, and someone who’s been there still around to lend a guiding hand, without anyone having to make too significant of a time commitment. If one new person takes on team rep responsibilities with each election, then it will be a constant cycle of mentoring people into more responsible roles, which is better for the project long-term than keeping all the responsibility in the hands of a few indefinitely.

It’s important to understand that “team rep” is a role that handles communication (namely contributor wrangling and posting weekly updates on the team’s activity and plans); it is not called “team lead” for a reason. While the people elected as team reps will generally come from the pool of folks that people think of as the experienced leaders, remember that the team rep role is designed to change hands regularly. For example, if in 6 months Ipstenu was ready to step back from being the support team rep, that would not reduce her leadership role on the support team, it would just mean she wasn’t responsible for team rep duties anymore.

All teams are participating in this round of elections, but you don’t have to choose all new people as team reps. Though Mark has chosen to step back, you’re welcome to vote for Scott to continue in the role. One thing to be sure of is that anyone you vote for is actually interested in having the team rep responsibilities until the next round of voting in June; this role has a time commitment attached to it, and if a team rep fails to meet that commitment (not posting the weekly updates, for example) they will be removed from the role. To that end, it would probably help for anyone who wants to be in the running to declare their interest in the comments.

Vote for Plugin Team Reps

#team-reps

Daniel Bachhuber 4:26 pm on December 9, 2012

I’d be interested…
- Scott Reilly 11:07 pm on December 11, 2012
  
  Does your interest also include joining the team to help review plugins?
- Daniel Bachhuber 11:09 pm on December 11, 2012
  
  @scott Totally! I hadn’t seen any posts about joining the review team, so I wasn’t sure if / how that was possible.
  - Scott Reilly 7:35 am on December 13, 2012
    
    Great! I’ll be in touch with you soon.
  - Boone Gorges 2:32 pm on December 13, 2012
    
    +1. I can’t volunteer to be the rep at the moment, but would like to get involved in the review team.
Ipstenu (Mika Epstein) 5:22 pm on December 9, 2012

While I’m on the team, I’m content being a wrangler and not a lead. I could do it, but given my involvement with Support, obviously there’s a conflict there 😉
- Jane Wells 5:28 pm on December 9, 2012
  
  Well, what’s more important is which side you’d rather represent. If you’re more interested in being a plugins team repTeam Rep A Team Rep is a person who represents the Make WordPress team to the rest of the project, make sure issues are raised and addressed as needed, and coordinates cross-team efforts., someone else could step up in forums. For that matter Scott could totally switch to metaMeta Meta is a term that refers to the inside workings of a group. For us, this is the team that works on internal WordPress sites like WordCamp Central and Make WordPress. team rep with Otto, too, if he’d rather.
  - Ipstenu (Mika Epstein) 8:50 pm on December 10, 2012
    
    Give it one more cycle. I think I’m the only support rep ‘continuing on’ this cycle, so I’d want to make sure that’s ready first!
mordauk 2:53 pm on December 11, 2012

I’m happy to step up.
Scott Reilly 11:04 pm on December 11, 2012

For those who don’t know, I’m currently the only active rep for the team.

I am more than happy to continue in the role. However, there is also now the first official voting for reps for the metaMeta Meta is a term that refers to the inside workings of a group. For us, this is the team that works on internal WordPress sites like WordCamp Central and Make WordPress. team. Most likely Otto would be the de facto lead for that, continuing in his acting lead team repTeam Rep A Team Rep is a person who represents the Make WordPress team to the rest of the project, make sure issues are raised and addressed as needed, and coordinates cross-team efforts. position. That team doesn’t have very many candidates for potential reps (basically Nacin and I asides from Otto). If all the criteria Jane set forth are followed, it stands to reason I should be the secondary rep for the meta team, requiring me to relinquish my current status as a rep for plugins.

Since Mika is most likely continuing on as a rep for the support team (at least for this term), Mark seems to have stepped back from involvement with the plugins team, and Nacin will likely continue as a team rep for coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress., that pretty much leaves Pippin as a prime team rep candidate.

I’m cool with continuing on as a plugins team rep or moving on to the meta team, depending on where interest from others lie. If I remain we can prep Pippin as a secondary rep and follow Jane’s desired rep transition procedure, though leaving Otto as the sole meta team rep. If I switch teams, both plugins reps will be new and one will be simultaneously joining the team and becoming a rep.
- Pippin (mordauk) 6:10 am on December 12, 2012
  
  I’d prefer to step up as secondary rep, simply because I’m still getting used to being on the team in general. If you’d like me to go straight to full team repTeam Rep A Team Rep is a person who represents the Make WordPress team to the rest of the project, make sure issues are raised and addressed as needed, and coordinates cross-team efforts., more than happy to do so, however.
  - Scott Reilly 8:51 am on December 12, 2012
    
    That makes the most sense, and is my preference as well, for the two of us to be the team reps. Then you can continue on in the senior role next term, to be joined by someone else (either a new member to the team or one of the others who may be coming off a team repTeam Rep A Team Rep is a person who represents the Make WordPress team to the rest of the project, make sure issues are raised and addressed as needed, and coordinates cross-team efforts. role for another team).
    - Pippin (mordauk) 3:04 am on December 20, 2012
      
      Works well for me.

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Team Rep Voting Backstory and Detail

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